Biostratigraphically useful Late Cretaceous–Paleocene Terrestrial palynomorphs from the Canadian Western Interior Sedimentary Basin

The northern part of the North American Western Interior Sedimentary Basin has yielded well-preserved terrestrial palynomorphs whose occurrences allow the biostratigraphic characterization of the basin. Data have been compiled from sections that in composite span the latest Turonian to Paleocene. These data allow for the identification of species that are biostratigraphically useful within Alberta and adjacent portions of the basin. Progress has been made in establishing a stable biostratigraphic context for the basin using the first and last occurrences of 103 taxa. These palynomorphs provide a refined chronostratigraphic framework when combined with radiometric ages, polarity chronologies and ammonite biozonations. This framework has allowed the intrabasinal correlation of widely distributed sections in the Alberta and Montana portion of the basin and can be applied to stratigraphic problems in the more northern portion of the Western Interior Basin.

Keywords:

• pollen-spores
• palynomorphs
• biostratigraphy
• western Canada
• paleogeography
• Late Cretaceous–Paleocene

Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to the GEM–Energy Program, Geological Survey of Canada (project leaders Larry Lane, Glen Stockmal and Rob MacNaughton) and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology for supporting the development of the database used in the preparation of this report. Jack Lerbekmo, Tom Jerzykiewicz, Doug Nichols and Dave Eberth have provided many useful pieces of information to the authors over time that contributed to our understanding of the sediments of the Western Interior Basin. The interest and help of Jared Fath in the construction of plates and figures is gratefully acknowledged. Linda Dancey is responsible for many of the sample preparations used in the study and has ably assisted in the final compilation of those aspects of the manuscript undertaken at the GSC. Thomas Demchuk and David Jarzen are thanked for their kind reviews and useful comments which improved the final version of the paper.